[Editor's Note: Albany Patch would love your 300-word letters to the editor. .]
Last night my wife and I were walking up Solano Avenue with our children when we encountered a man sitting on a park bench smoking. When we informed him of the , his first response was to tell us he was just holding it. He then grew more belligerent with us, inviting us to call the police and then resorting to profanities.
We walked away. Then, in the next alley, we encountered another person smoking within five feet of the sidewalk.
These encounters are very common on Solano Avenue. I am on these streets quite a bit running errands or taking a walk with my children. I almost always see at least a couple people smoking but nothing being done to prevent it.
I also don’t know what can be done to try to enforce the law posted in the window of nearly every shop on Solano. Our comments to the man last evening certainly did nothing to help.
Are we ? If this law goes unenforced, what is the point of all the signs? This is a public health issue.
I do not want my children breathing in secondhand smoke, especially in an area that specifically prohibits it. But, with the hostile response we witnessed last night, I’m not sure what the right action is.
